CHENNAI, India (AP) – Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 67 off 48 balls as Chennai Super Kings defeated Mumbai Indians by eight wickets in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
Impact player Kartik Sharma scored his first run in his IPL half-century (54 not out off 40 balls) as he eased Chennai to 160-2 in 18.1 overs.
That was after Mumbai were restricted to 159 for 7 despite Naman Dir scoring 57 off 37 balls.
It was Chennai’s second win of the season, having won against Mumbai by 103 runs.
Overall, Chennai achieved their fourth win in nine matches and moved to sixth place in the points table, ahead of Delhi Capitals in terms of net run rate.
Mumbai suffered their seventh loss in nine games and remained in ninth place.
Gaikwad and Sharma will make things easy for Chennai.
Chasing an under-par score, Chennai got off to a poor start as Sanju Samson was caught by Jasprit Bumrah for 11 runs. Gaikwad then added 49 off 22 balls with Urbir Patel (24) to pick up the second wicket. Chennai scored 62-2 in the powerplay with Patel bowled out in the sixth over.
This brought Gaikwad and Sharma together and they did not get separated till the end, adding 98 runs off 75 balls for the third wicket.
Gaikwad showed no signs of panic and scored 50 runs off 34 balls. His fourth IPL half-century against Mumbai came at an average of 47.5 runs in 11 innings.
The day belonged to Sharma and the 20-year-old showed great improvement as he scored the game-winning goal in his first half-century.
Sharma hit four fours and three sixes, taking his time initially and then scoring 50 off 39 balls. His previous best was 18 (15 balls) against Rajasthan Royals.
The captain also hit five fours and two sixes. Sharma hit the winning hit with 11 balls remaining.
“I wanted to stay till the end and finish the chase,” Sharma said. “The pitch was slow, so we played with it.”
Mumbai, who chose a batter, lost Will Jacks, who was in good form, by just one hit. He was caught by off-pacer Anshul Kamboj, who picked 3-32 in the fourth over.
Ryan Rickelton (37) and Diehl added 58 off 32 pitches. Mumbai scored 57-1 on the powerplay.
It wasn’t enough and Mumbai never got proper acceleration. Noor Ahmad caught Rickelton out in the seventh over, taking the score to 2-26, before dismissing Tilak Verma in three overs.
Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav was caught after a brief cameo of 21 off 12 balls (three fours, one six).
Diehl fought a lonely battle, scoring his second half-century of the season, including four quads and three sixes. Even captain Hardik Pandya struggled to get going in the final over, scoring 18 runs off 23 balls.
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